Arlo’s First Birthday Party Theme + Inspiration!

in Birthdays, Our Family on 03/07/18

Hand me a box of tissues while I cry writing this post, but… we are now less than TWO weeks away from Arlo’s first birthday. And I wanted to finally tell you guys the theme AND share some of the party inspo and ideas we’re hoping to create!!! Drumroll please…

“To Infinity and Beyond!!!!”

But… not actually Toy Story-themed. Let me explain.

When I was trying to think of a theme for his party, I really wanted it to have some meaning to it. One day, after the ZILLIONTH time I had screamed “To infinity and BEYOND!” at Arlo to get him to raise his hand like he always does, I screamed “OMG THAT’S IT!” It was the perfect theme. It fit our always-Pixar-inspired family moments and I thought I’d be able to put my own fun spin on a “space” theme.

What I don’t love about space-themed parties is they’re always dark. So, I’m flipping the theme on it’s head and going with rocket ships, planets, stars…. and blue sky, clouds and rainbows!! Since Andy’s room had blue sky wallpaper, it just felt so right!! We’ll be using every color under the sun and it’s going to be so bright and fun.

The first thing I had to get done was invitations. I am a stationery FREAK and there are very few moments in life where I get to do custom stationery (my wedding being the only other one, LOL) so I seized this opportunity. We worked with Printerette Press and LOOK at the invite Catherine created!!!!! They’re even letterpress!! TEARS TEARS TEARS!!!

Next, let’s talk about some of the other party inspo and items….

I got most of our paper goods at Bonjour Fete, the PRETTIEST party shop in LA. And they’ll also be stepping in to help bring some of my larger decor ideas to life as well!

I realized I didn’t mention, we will not be hosting the party at our home as originally planned because our yard is just not ready for a bunch of people to come hang yet. So, instead, we’re hosting it at an awesome space in LA that I’ll share more details about after the event!

At the space, we’re going to be doing a couple balloon installations!! I’m talking planet balloons, a balloon rocket ship and maybe even a balloon rainbow!?!?

Alana Jones Mann will be making a couple of her shag cakes for us. I CANNOT wait to see them. And Theresa, our resident baker extraordinaire, will be making rocketship cupcakes for the kiddos!! Thinking we’ll do a DIY for these. They’re gonna be so stinking cute. I also bought this cookie cutter and might try to DIY a birthday candle for Arlo. Wish me luck!

Food-wise. You guys! I reallllllyyyy wanted to do pizza, inspired by Pizza Planet (DUH!) but we couldn’t find an affordable option so we’ll be going with tacos. Can’t complain, haha!

I’m gonna be decking out those wooden rockets and that play rocket ship in some fun bright colors and then I was gonna pick up some of those giant bouncy/rubber balls you see at Target for the kids to play with. They kinda look like planets!

We picked up a Pixar coffee table book that we’re going to leave out for everyone to sign. And last, we’ve got Sugarfina hooking us up with some on-theme custom candy favors (Are you judging me for how much sugar is at this party? Haha!!) and that. is. that.

Can you tell I’m excited?? Truth be told, planning parties can actually really stress me out because I feel so much pressure, but I’m really, really excited for this. We didn’t get to have a baby shower, sip and see or any of the typical “baby” parties so this feels like a super big deal.

I’ll of course share the whole shindig in a couple weeks, but I couldn’t wait any longer to tell you guys the theme!!!

Photos by Jeff Mindell